Richardcyoung.com

The Online Home of Author and Investor, Dick Young

  • Home
  • How We Are Different
  • About Us
    • Foundation Principles
    • Contributors
  • Investing
    • You’ve Read The Last Issue of Intelligence Report, Now What?
  • Your Survival Guy
  • The Great Reset
  • COVID-19
  • My Rifles
  • Dividends and Compounding
  • Your Security
  • The Swiss Way
  • Dick Young
  • Debbie Young
  • Key West
  • Paris
  • Dick’s R&B Top 100
  • Liberty & Freedom Map
  • Bank Credit & Money
  • Your Survival Guy’s Super States
  • NNT & Cholesterol
  • Work to Make Money/Invest to Save Money
  • Your Health
  • Ron Paul
  • US Treasury Yield Curve: My Favorite Investor Tool

Bracevich is Sick and Tired of War Party Neglecting its Duty

February 20, 2017 By Richard C. Young

At The American Conservative, Andrew Bracevich excoriates hawkish Senate Republicans who continue to avoid their oversight responsibilities of the war in Afghanistan. He cuts through the curtain of theatrics that surrounds typical hearings on the war and demands that Senators do better. He writes:

Nominally, the Senate Armed Services Committee, along with its counterpart in the House of Representatives, provides oversight of U.S. military activities. Yet recently, the committee’s unacknowledged purpose seems to be avoiding the meaningful exercise of this role, especially when it comes to scrutinizing the nation’s commitment to armed conflicts like the ongoing Afghanistan War.

Oversight implies ownership. The Congress of the United States has no desire to own a war that is the longest in U.S. history, grows longer by the day, and shows no sign of ending anytime soon.

This congressional irresponsibility was on display earlier this month, when Gen. John W. Nicholson, U.S. Army, traveled from his headquarters in Kabul to provide senators with a progress report on the Afghanistan War. Such briefings have become a fixture on Washington’s official calendar. By my count, Nicholson is the 12th American officer to be charged with running that war since it began in 2001. He will not be the last.

In his appearance before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Nicholson came across as brisk and no-nonsense, if also stiff and humorless. Yet the proceedings in which he played a central role had the feel of a ritual that continues to be performed long after participants had lost sight of its original purpose or rationale. Like Labor Day honoring laborers. Or Christmas commemorating the birth of Christ.

General Nicholson’s role was to serve as congressional enabler, allowing members of the committee to sustain the pretense that they were doing their duty. He did this by rendering a report that permitted senators to avert their eyes from anything that might require them to critically assess the war’s conduct and prospects.

Words were exchanged, some few actually conveying information. But all participants agreed to steer clear of anything approximating a conclusion.

As if adhering to a script that had circulated in advance, senators did go through the motions of posing questions. Each in turn thanked Nicholson for his many years of service—to include four tours in Afghanistan—and asked him to pass along their warm regards to the troops. Yet each devoted his or her allotted time to sidestepping core issues.

No one pressed Nicholson as the responsible commander to say when the Afghanistan War might actually end and on what terms. No one dared to suggest that there might be something fundamentally amiss with an armed conflict that drags on inconclusively from one decade to the next. All took care to tiptoe around anything that might imply dissatisfaction with the performance of the U.S. military. On both sides of the witness table, politeness prevailed.

Read more here.

Andrew Bacevich: Why Is No Candidate Offering an Alternative to Militarized U.S. Foreign Policy?

Read more from Bracevich in his books:

If you’re willing to fight for Main Street America, click here to sign up for my free weekly email.

Related Posts

  • The War Party and its Due Diligence
  • Frightened Americans Sick and Tired of Obama's Fake News
  • Rick Perry: War Dog
  • Author
  • Recent Posts
Richard C. Young
Richard C. Young is the editor of Young's World Money Forecast, and a contributing editor to both Richardcyoung.com and Youngresearch.com.
Latest posts by Richard C. Young (see all)
  • BEN CARSON: How Is Biden’s Speech Creating Unity? - February 8, 2023
  • Jimmy Buffett Playing Key West - February 7, 2023
  • Whatever You Knew, Dave Hammer Knew More - February 7, 2023

Dick Young’s Must Reads

  • Who Is Alex Jones?
  • The Worst President in American History, Part I
  • Government Should Be Small, Laws Unobtrusive, and Men Left Alone
  • America’s Number One Patriot: Naples Florida’s Alfie Oakes
  • America’s States Rights Revolution
  • Mises and Rothbard Finally Get Their Due
  • “The Goal”: Strong Families, Resilient Faith, Thriving Middle Class.
  • The Clock is Ticking: You Must Protect Your Family
  • The Swiss Way
  • TOP HEAVY: Focus on Big Indexing Could Cause Market Chaos

Disclosure

RSS Youngresearch.com

  • Yes, Your Children Are Listening to You
  • The Cloud Slowdown Is Hurting Amazon the Most
  • You Aren’t Getting These Yields from Your Bank Account
  • Real Estate “Power Buyers” Suffering Glut of Inventory
  • What Your Survival Guy Invested in Today
  • AI SEARCH WAR BEGINS: Google and Microsoft Join AI Battle
  • Your Retirement Life: Adventure Awaits
  • UK Takes Aim at the Cryptocurrency Industry
  • Early Advice from Her Dad on Tipping at Charlie Trotter’s
  • Do You Trust This Rally?

RSS Yoursurvivalguy.com

  • Yes, Your Children Are Listening to You
  • You Aren’t Getting These Yields from Your Bank Account
  • Bidenflation Has Eaten Up Americans’ Pandemic Savings
  • Dragon Tours Open for Business
  • What Your Survival Guy Invested in Today
  • You Invest, They Win: FTX Edition
  • Your Retirement Life: Adventure Awaits
  • Zumwalt-Class Guided Missile Destroyers to Get Hypersonic Weapons
  • Early Advice from Her Dad on Tipping at Charlie Trotter’s
  • Treasury Bonds Ready to Rock and Roll

Big Hearted, Idealistic, Daring…

Yes, Your Children Are Listening to You

BEN CARSON: How Is Biden’s Speech Creating Unity?

Biden’s State of the Union Address Receives Rough Reception

Can a Capital Injection Save Bed Bath & Beyond?

You Aren’t Getting These Yields from Your Bank Account

Copyright © 2023 | Terms & Conditions | About Us | Dick Young | Archives